The Rev. Joe Roberts, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Nederland, did his best to put a positive spin on the fact that he and his congregation have abandoned plans to build a foster care home for elementary-aged boys in Beauxart Gardens. But the sad fact is the children are the losers.

When some of the residents in the area around the 2.5 acres of property the church purchased became aware of the plans for the foster home, signs sprang up in front lawns protesting the plans for the home. Some of the neighbors organized an effort to convince church members to withhold financial donations to the church’s project. Pastor Roberts said that effort failed and church members gave generously to the cause.

But it was not enough to overcome the continued resistance in the community, fueled by rumors and exaggerations, to having a foster home in their midst. So the church has pulled the plug on the plan for the foster home in Beauxart Gardens and is selling the property because, as Roberts put it, “I don’t want strife with the community.”

Roberts also mentioned overhead as a contributing factor in the decision to stop the project, but the church is continuing its involvement with and plans to expand a foster home for girls in Chester.

The children who were the objects of such great concern by some of the Beauxart Gardens residents would have been fourth, fifth and sixth grade boys who have been designated by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to be at a basic care level, the lowest of four levels.

Fellowship Baptist’s project would have made only a small dent in the massive need for high-quality foster care for children who have been removed from their homes for something their parents did. But without families or faith-based organizations willing to open their arms, accept these children and trying to give them something close to a normal life, the problem of institutionalizing children will only grow worse.

We applaud the Rev. Roberts and members of Fellowship Baptist for their desire to help the children and are saddened that those plans were thwarted.